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That 3-year minimum ooof. Exist a year before something like that. I see that making them prime targets for the back end of the career cfl/afl nfl PR guys. What player in or before their prime is going to want to sign away 3 years.

They still can sign in the nfl even when they are under contract. But if cfl players scoff at the 2 year deals I can’t see these 3 year deals being all that appealing.

I feel like these start-up leagues, and even the established ones get caught up in this. Trying to hammer in as many Toronto type teams instead of Edmonton, Winnipeg etc. Some tiny cities and areas of the US get 30k or more for high school games. Just makes no sense to me to target a city like Seattle, vs a city that would be invested in keeping a team around.

23 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Fastest growing city in the US.

One of the more interesting too. It has such a strong hipster reputation but has a huge now counterculture that predates the hipsters.

I believe the small market teams are what keep leagues around through the rough times. I also would bet the combined years of operation for XFL 2.0 and AAAAAFL will max out at 3.

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I feel like these start-up leagues, and even the established ones get caught up in this. Trying to hammer in as many Toronto type teams instead of Edmonton, Winnipeg etc. Some tiny cities and areas of the US get 30k or more for high school games. Just makes no sense to me to target a city like Seattle, vs a city that would be invested in keeping a team around.

One of the more interesting too. It has such a strong hipster reputation but has a huge now counterculture that predates the hipsters.

I believe the small market teams are what keep leagues around through the rough times. I also would bet the combined years of operation for XFL 2.0 and AAAAAFL will max out at 3.

Toronto may be a joke attendance wise but the GTA provides very solid CFL viewership numbers to TSN and is a big reason the rest of the CFL has the TV deal it does. Don't be fooled by attendance. People like the Argos and watch them in Toronto, you just won't get them to go to a game because their game day experience has been complete garbage for a long time.

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Toronto may be a joke attendance wise but the GTA provides very solid CFL viewership numbers to TSN and is a big reason the rest of the CFL has the TV deal it does. Don't be fooled by attendance. People like the Argos and watch them in Toronto, you just won't get them to go to a game because their game day experience has been complete garbage for a long time.

I don't buy viewership. But it does give you the leverage to get nationwide tv. I really can't see that many people watching them on tv in the GTA. Perhaps (more than likely) I am crazy though.

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Toronto may be a joke attendance wise but the GTA provides very solid CFL viewership numbers to TSN and is a big reason the rest of the CFL has the TV deal it does. Don't be fooled by attendance. People like the Argos and watch them in Toronto, you just won't get them to go to a game because their game day experience has been complete garbage for a long time.

the numbers would disagree with you when you say solid. Average would be more like it, and again, when you consider the potential market, not all that great:

Here’s a look at the TV ratings for the nine CFL teams compared to their 2017 numbers for the same number of games along with their attendance figures.

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I'd suggest that a team from a metropolitan area as large as Toronto should see higher numbers that this when they play. An Argos game pulls in 503k. The average is 539k. If you take out Saskatchewan, which does tend to skew things a bit (easy to draw crowds when you are the only pro sport in the province), you still end up at an average of about 517k. The largest population center's team can't even manage average viewership. Yes, its numbers are not the lowest, but personally, I would have expected that if there really was a large fan base on TO, the numbers would have shown that, but they don't. For the TSN people, the real saving grace in that part of the province are the Tiger Cats. It's their viewership which seems to be the real driving force in Ontario

TV numbers are always hard to believe, how do they count who is watching? Lol......the number that jumps off the page for me is Torontos attendance going up from 2017. 25 more years with increases like this and they may be getting somewhere...

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Sports Business Journal ran a story about the AAF, which starts play in February, and its rival, the XFL.

The gist is, as we noted, the XFL is in larger markets and playing at a number of NFL stadiums while the AAF is playing in secondary markets and smaller stadiums.

The feeling is the XFL has more money to spend, although the AAF claimed that they have $850 million in funding and will spend that over the next five years to get the venture up and running.

Vince McMahon, who is funding the XFL on his own, has only said he will fund it for far more than the $100 million that he cashed out stock on to get the ball rolling.

Oliver Luck, who will be actually running the XFL, at least as much as anyone can run a company owned by Vince McMahon, said that the NFL did a study on what markets have the most interest in football, and they got the results and placed teams in those cities.

The XFL is expected to announce a television deal for 2020 within weeks. Vince McMahon was very confident in that. With sports channels needing live programming, getting a deal shouldn’t be hard, but getting ratings will be far more difficult than it was in 2001.

What type of revenue they can get between television and streaming platforms will spell the success or failure of the league not things like ticket sales.

They also expect to start naming head coaches for its teams in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington, DC.

The plan is also to sign eight star quarterbacks at around $250,000 to $300,000 per year, announce the signings early next year and spent a year marketing the star quarterback in the local market before starting play.

Luck said the league plans to start signing players throughout 2019 to give teams time to prepare for the season.

While not specifically addressed, it appears that the XFL will be making players sign exclusive contracts.

The AAF is giving players contracts that allow them to leave teams at the end of the season if they get an NFL offer, which essentially means if the league is taken seriously as strong football, most stars will get NFL offers and leave.

Luck said that the XFL will not become an NFL developmental league. That means that player who still believe they can get to the NFL, which would be the better players, would be more likely to sign with the AAF, although most athletes are going to go to who offers the most money. . .

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